You can’t hide away from mounting questions over £5m gift from crypto billionaire, top ally warns Farage

One of Nigel Farage’s top allies has admitted he “cannot hide” from mounting questions about the multi-million pound gift the Reform England leader received from a crypto billionaire.

The Reform UK leader has faced scrutiny in recent weeks over a £5 million donation from Christopher Harborne weeks before Mr Farage stands in the 2024 general election.

Last week he insisted “no one cares” about the money and told BBC Breakfast when asked how much he spent on the gift: “It’s none of your business.”

Tim Montgomerie, a key supporter of Reform UK who joined the party in 2024 after 33 years with the Conservative Party, warned that Mr Farage “needs to find better answers” to questions about donations.

Responding to the clip, Mr Montgomerie said on Wednesday: “Well, this wasn’t Nigel Farage’s best interview performance, let’s just say. He can’t escape the issue.”

“People don’t normally buy a £5 million gift… we buy a box of chocolates, we buy a bottle of champagne.”

The ConservativeHome founder said it was “completely legitimate” for Mr Farage to have security concerns, but added: “I think he might not particularly like those questions coming to him, but they will continue to come his way because people are surprised by it.

“I think he should have found better answers to these questions by now, and he will, because the parliamentary process is going on right now and he will need to be open.”

Mr Montgomerie’s departure from Reform UK was publicly celebrated by the party, which posted a photo of him in 2024 with Mr Farage and then-party chief Zia Yusuf.

The former Boris Johnson adviser has since become honorary president of the party’s Christian Fellowship.

Labor leader Anna Turley said Mr Montgomerie’s comments showed senior Reform supporters were “waking up and smelling the coffee”.

“They know Nigel Farage cannot defend his £5m scandal and has exposed himself as failing to face the fundamental scrutiny the public expects from all political leaders,” he said.

“This scandal is not going away; it is shaking the Reform and proving to the British public that he is the only one in this. It is time for Farage to come clean and reveal all the facts. If he doesn’t, it won’t be long before more Reform figures raise the alarm.”

Mr Harborne’s donations to Mr Farage and Reform UK have been a particular controversy for the party after he gifted the party £9 million last August – the largest donation from a living person to a political party in history – and a further £3 million this year.

Mr Farage’s recent disclosure of the £5 million “gift” from the crypto entrepreneur prompted an investigation by Westminster’s standards watchdog into whether Mr Farage broke Commons rules by not declaring it after his election in 2024.

He could be removed from the House of Commons if the investigation finds he has seriously breached parliamentary rules. A suspension of 10 days or more could trigger a recall petition, which could result in him having to fight for his Clacton seat again.

Mr Montgomerie’s intervention came just days after the former chairman of Reform England suggested Mr Farage should “take a break” from politics.

Dr. who was on duty until May this year. David Bull said he was speaking as “a friend and colleague”, days after Mr Farage addressed the donation issue in his first major interview in weeks.

Mr Farage had previously insisted the £5 million gift was for private security for the rest of his life, but later also claimed it was “a reward for 27 years of campaigning for Brexit”.

Asked if he had been interviewed about the possibility of becoming an MP before accepting the gift, Farage said: “Yes. After that I said, ‘I’m not going to stand in this election’. And when the snap election was called I was quite clear that I wasn’t going to do it. Then I changed my mind.”

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